A Touch of Sin |18+|

37

ALANI

He looked down at the watch on his wrist and sighed, "I only have five minutes."

Five minutes for what?

"You must be wondering right now, 'five minutes for what?'" Alonzo chuckled, gazing at me from the opposite side of the dining room. I didn't take my eyes off him, the gun on his waist far too intimidating to look anywhere else.
What the fuck was he doing here? And where was Valerio?

Alonzo glanced around, shrugging his jacket off in the progress. I watched him approach the table and sit across from me, his body language casual but the stoic expression on his face was anything but apathetic. I leaned back in my seat, a feeble attempt at putting as much distance between us as possible.
I didn't know that man. I knew he was Valerio's brother, but that was all.

"Pretty nice place for a nobody, don't you think?" Alonzo mocked, pulling his brows together as he folded his arms and leaned on the table. He's still on that?

He was closer, allowing me to see the resemblance between him and Valerio. The same black hair, except his eyes were a lot lighter without a hint of warmth that Valerio held. His eyes were dark, in the metaphorical sense and I felt an eerie chill run across my skin as I stared at him.

"I'm not here to hurt you," Alonzo said, but his tone was definitely not convincing.

"What are you here for?" I asked, finally finding my voice and it escaped a lot stronger than I expected.

He shrugged, "I just want to talk."

"About what?" I narrowed my eyes at him, observing the way his gaze shifted across the room.

After such a brief encounter, it was clear that Alonzo couldn't hold eye contact for any moment longer than necessary. Just like that, any fear I felt immediately vanished. I wasn't going to be intimidated by a man who could hardly look at me.

"My brother," he answered, interlacing his tattooed fingers together. "He's not the person you think he is."

He looked away, blinking a few times and I realised that he was about to lie his ass off.

Still, I decided to humour him.

"What do you mean?" I asked, scowling in confusion.

Alonzo looked down at my neck, letting out a small laugh. "He really got you brainwashed, doesn't he? Did he give that to you?"

Automatically, I lifted my hand up to the chain Valerio had given me and instantly I regretted putting it on that morning. Alonzo was smiling, but he was far from happy and the grin morphed into a bitter smirk.

"I always wanted it," Alonzo explained. "But it was too important to him. The fucking bastard. He'd rather give it to a woman he barely knows than his own brother." He shook his head, a grim look on his face.

The same brother who tried stealing his wallet after being invited for lunch.

"Whatever," he conceded. "I don't care. It's just a stupid chain. Just for a fun, do you know how much that costs?"

"I don't need to know," I answered, frowning at him. Valerio never mentioned it. Why would he? It wasn't important.

Alonzo chuckled, leaning closer. "If you did, you would have it locked up in a safe and not around your neck for anyone to rip off."

I eyed him carefully, wondering how many minutes he had left because time seemed to be moving in slow motion.

"Anyway," he stated, hitting his knuckles on the table. "Back to the reason I'm here."